New James Rabbit Band Video, Jamie As Starlet

"Ghost In Grey" by James Rabbit from Young Pasta on Vimeo.

Jamie makes his farmer's debut in James Rabbit's latest hit video! Watch the video and learn the secrets of Jamie's constant enthusiasm as well as James Rabbit's hidden agenda.

James Rabbit is not a person, but a band that comes from the Crystal Palace, 107 Blackburn Street Santa Cruz California.  Go there and they will make you tea!  Jamie has performed with them for many years, bringing spirit, noises, dancing and sometimes lighting or software!  But if ever James Rabbit could be one person it is John Tyler Martin!  He started the band when he was in high-school, playing and recording with his brother in a room at his mom's house in Fresno California!  Conner Martin is an amazing drummer and is Tyler's married brother!  He's super strong and when he's playing the drums he's like a very precise animal with powerful empathy and excellent nutritional advice!  At times James Rabbit is like a music school with 18 performers.  Good thing they have Max Bennett-Parker who can lead everyone in vocal warmups around the kitchen island before we play a house show!  His strong and beautiful voice charms audiences when he acts in musicals and is A Whole New World at karaoke!  Plus he can play those keys!  Drew Stoeckel, aka Young Pasta is the mastermind who directed this video!  He also plays the bass, engineers and masters the sound and has a visual association with auditory sensation.  Dylan McKeever, Michael Rekevics, Spencer Owen, Dorota, Richard... ... ...  There are so many more people in the James Rabbit Band it calls for ellipses of ellipses of ellipsis!


"Candles" by James Rabbit from Young Pasta on Vimeo.

Even with James Rabbit in California and Jamie in New York, there is a way that James Rabbit songs make ideas come true, and the whole United States becomes a trans-continental home town with couches in every city, every state for us to sleep on.  I very much enjoyed last year's tour and look forward to another one this summer!  Coast to Coast and Heart to Heart.

Season 2: Brooklyn, NY

The KC Masterpeas have moved to Brooklyn! We considered starting a new blog, but somehow PeaNYC didn't roll off the tongue. Anyway, maybe we are still in Kansas City. And we have just uncovered an extremely dense new area.

Julia is doing a graduate program at Columbia University's School of International and Public Affairs.

I have come up with an incredible new way of doing laundry!

We got to see Laurie Anderson perform at a venue that's a fifteen minute walk from our house. There's a 24 hour natural food store called Mister Coco's about 500 ft from our kitchen. My sister Madeleine in Boston is now close as Saint Louis. And at the farmer's market I saw Julia's ears perk at the mention of a Fort Greene Neighborhood Association. Hmm?


We have been very fortunate with an easy move. We swapped into this apartment when our friends Matt Robison and Julia Meuse moved away. I'm still up to web development work. We passed safely through life's tornado. And so many familiar faces are here with us!

Many friends who we knew from different past places have all just moved here at the same time.

Kansas City
• Alex Phillips
• Bobby Grace
• Colin Leipelt
• Stewart Losee

Santa Cruz
• Justin (via Kelly!)
  
• Kelly McCormick
• Megan Healey
• Michael Rekevics
• Ryan Villarreal

Welcome to New York!

James Rabbit: In love with the Idea!

Every city needs a Tyler Martin who meets you on the sidewalk to say, "this city is yours!" But for those who dwell beyond the cooperative housing situations of mid-California, Perfect Waves will do.


Perfect Waves is the new album from Tyler's omni-valent band, James Rabbit. In 20 tracks on two sides, Tyler rallies his friends and geniuses into helpful harmonies with more zeal than a pro-tourism board.

Listen to this track and hear what I'm saying.

This City is Yours by James Rabbit.

So good! When has the lunch special at Yan Flower been this triumphant!?

This music is important as a celebration of responsibility.

It's like the feeling I get when I walk our neighborhood in Kansas City. I see a person our age and my attention turns. In a glance it's as if we ask, do you have the answer? What do we do as our parents get older? This city is ours.

If you e-mail Tyler, he'll mail you a CD with sweetness and understanding. Or you can listen to the whole album streaming.

I won't say it's a complete life-training package, but it'll get you started. And there are a ton of hits!

Here is a video that Thor and Tyler made as they crowdsourced the recording at the Crystal Palace. And keep an eye out for a special guest appearance!



Photo Credit:
The photo at the top was taken by Roselle Kingsbury.

Thor Visits KC + "Strangers" Video

I know that many of us have thought about our Transcontinental Hometowns. We imagine an overlay on the world map that indicates couches we can sleep on and friends we haven't met. Places to visit, people to see, it's just a matter of getting there...


Strangers by Jamie Burkart.

Thor, has made the great leap and is visiting us from Santa Cruz.

The next week will surely include a vegan tour of Kansas City, multimedia jam sessions and a ride along through the Main Street Corridor Development & Community Improvement District with our friend in the red shirt, Stewart.

"Stay still Thor, I'm going to do a sketch of you in ASCII art."

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Thor has come to town!

See more Thor on:
Flickr
Vimeo
Myspace
YouTube
Last.fm

* Most of these photos are by Julia.

Video: Hiram (a documentary about a father)

This week's video is a few years old. It's from back when I lived in Santa Cruz, CA.

My neighbor Hiram got married when he was 16. He is a committed father, a youth and my peer. In this documentary Hiram and I draw lines across discontinuities with the style that suits us best.


Hiram (a documentary about a father) by Jamie Burkart.

This video was first screened at an event in the house where it was filmed. After the show, Hiram and I sat at the front of the room. Our peers gave us questions to ask each other.

Hiram is a popular young man and a caring father. Our video acknowledges the connection between those two worlds. It says publicly what is tough to say even in private. And I hope it helps Hiram feel more fully himself with everyone he loves.

Hiram and I worked to communicate the issues of his fatherhood to the horizon of his young friends and peers. We tried to express his ethic without imposing a moral.

For me personally, this video was very difficult to make, screen and watch. It is a deep challenge to craft a representation of another person. It's serious stuff! But I try to make it a little goofy.

When I was making this, I was really into the writings of the Community Video Movement from the 1970's. In video's infancy, groups like the Raindance Corporation saw the potential for indigenous media to be "a spark plug for change." I hoped that the witnessing process of production and exhibition would strengthen collective bonds and add depth to our agency. To see Hiram tell his story would encourage others to tell their own.

The opening music was made just for this video by Goodbye the Band (aka John Acquadro). Here are links to John's Official Web Site and Demalgamated Videos.

Imagine you are at the screening in Hiram's house. What questions would you ask? For those of you who were actually there, what did you think?